A Strange Vacation
by Ha-LoCo
Summary: What if Bella didn't go to California with Charlie for two weeks during the summer? What if instead she went to Forks? What if she met Edward two years earlier when she was fifteen? Better then it sounds! Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

My dad, Charlie was waiting for me. I could see him through the window of the aeroplane. He was police chief of the tiny town called Forks, and it was here that I now exiled myself for two months during the summer holidays. It wasn't that I didn't like visiting Charlie; it was just Forks was probably my least favourite place in the world. I was thinking of asking Charlie if in the summer, could I vacation with him somewhere warmer instead of coming here. But I'd never got round to it. My dad waved as I walked over to him, and I waved back, half-heartedly. "Hey Bells." He caught me as I stumbled and hugged me. "How are you?"

I sighed. "I'm fine, thanks. It's good to see you."

He smiled, "It's great to see you too."

The ride back to Charlie's house, my house for two months, was quiet. We talked about the weather, and he asked me about school and that was pretty much it. But that didn't matter; we were both comfortable in silence. It was really easy for me to live with him. He left me alone to unpack my bags, and I glared at the rain through the window.

I walked down the stairs and found Charlie cooking bacon. He grinned at me as I sat down. "You said you didn't have many winter clothes, huh Bells?"

I nodded, "Why?"

"Well I was thinking I could take you down to Port Angeles or somewhere, and you can get some clothes. I want you to be comfortable here."

I raised my eyebrows automatically this was unexpected. "Dad you don't have to spend any money on me, I can pay for my own things."

He shook his head, "I'd like to buy you some clothes. Or maybe I could give you the money and drop you off."

Now it was my turn to shake my head, "dad I don't know my way around Port Angeles, and I'm honesty OK with the clothes I've got with me."

Charlie's eyes narrowed, "Bells I could get one of the kids to show you around. You know, you can make a few new friends here, and then can meet them when you come and visit next year." Charlie's eyes were bright with the sudden idea he'd had.

I fiddled with my hair nervously. "Would anybody want to? I mean… I don't want to go around with someone who didn't want to be there."

Charlie was already on the phone to someone, he was flapping his hand at me to shush me. "Mrs Stanley." He grinned when someone answered the phone. They explained a few pleasantries until Mrs Stanley apparently asked why my dad had called. "I was wondering if I could ask for a favour. Could Jessica maybe show Isabella around Port Angeles?"

"Dad-" I started; I hated it when anyone called me Isabella, but he flapped his arm at me again.

"Thanks. I really appreciate this." He hung up the phone. And I dropped my head into my hands. "What's wrong?" Charlie asked me worriedly.

"You are going to make me go around Port Angeles, with a girl I don't even know?" it was difficult to hide my terror.

"Jessica's a great kid. You'll get along fine."

I nodded at my dad. There wasn't much point in arguing with him. But what would this Jessica think of me? She'd probably think I was insane. Her mother'd be forcing her into this; she'd see me as the girl from Phoenix, who'd come to destroy her privacy. I'd end up following a girl who wouldn't even like me, around a strange and unfamiliar city. Great, the perfect start to a vacation.

"Mrs Stanley is going to pick you up and drop you both off in Port Angeles. She's going to be here in around half an hour, and then you can spend a few hours shopping." Charlie grinned.

I just nodded, forced a smile, and sat at the dinning room table. Charlie admitted he couldn't cook much besides bacon and eggs, so I made him promise that he would take me food shopping, and let me cook. He agreed reluctantly, I could see how difficult it would be for him to let a 15-year-old cook.

I rushed through the bacon and eggs, and then waited silently for Jessica to arrive. I brushed my hair in the mirror; I didn't want her to think of me as the chief's plain daughter, if I were going to be stuck with her, it would probably be better if I at least tried to be friends.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, Charlie looked at me and I ignored him, he sighed and walked out into the hall to answer it. I followed him, and stood a few feet behind him. The girl named Jessica was grinning at me. She was a few inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly hair made up for the height difference.

Charlie practically forced me out of the house, "You kids have a nice time." He turned to me then and handed me a few notes. "If there's any change it's mine." He winked and I smiled slightly.

Jessica was already in her car, and I followed slowly. "So you must be Isabella." Her mom smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Yes, but I prefer Bella. It's nice to meet you Mrs Stanley."

Jessica, in the seat next to me, immediately started telling me all about her friends, and some cute boys at her school. "You seem nice enough, so maybe you can meet Angela and Lauren, they're my two best friends." I smiled at her and listened to her stories. She seemed nice; maybe it would be good to have some friends here.

The drive to Port Angeles didn't take as long as I thought it would. Mrs Stanley drove faster than Charlie.

"I'll meet you two back here in three hours." Mrs Stanley smiled, whilst I suppressed a groan. Three hours shopping? Yeah, that was my idea of hell.

Jessica waved bye to her mom, and grabbed my arm. We started walking north, "So…" She started pleasantly. "Where do you want to go first?"

I shrugged. "I honestly have no idea where anything is."

"Oh, that's right." She nodded. "You don't know where anything is. Well… there are some clothes shops over here. Although we are in Port Angeles, so there's not as much choice as you would have had if we had gone to Seattle."

I sighed. It seemed like she was blaming me for Port Angeles' lack of good clothes stores.

We walked round for a while and I had found some nice shirts and a jacket. I felt like my winter wardrobe wasn't quite as scanty.

Jessica started leading me down another street. There weren't so many people down it, but I did see a bookstore halfway down. I started to gravitate towards it, I hadn't had new books in ages, and I had a lot of money in my pocket. Still, I thought automatically, I shouldn't waste all of Charlie's money on books. That wouldn't be fair, maybe just one new book.

"Jess, could we maybe go in the bookstore for a second?"

She looked at me for a moment. I thought for a second she was going to stay no. "Sure."

I grinned. Maybe she wasn't so bad.

We were almost there when the front door opened. Three figures walked out, two guys and one girl. One of the guys was honey blonde. He was very tall and lean, and the girl was like his opposite. She was tiny, and had spiky black hair. Then there was the other guy. He had bronze coloured hair, and looked more boyish than the other guy. They were all different and all alike at the same time. Different because they looked nothing like each other, and then the same because they were all deathly pale, they all had very dark eyes, and they all were very beautiful. I stopped and stared at them. They were the most beautiful people I had ever seen. Jessica stopped next to me. "Who are they?" I could hear the awed tone in my voice.

"Ah." She said quietly. "They're three of the Cullen's. They've just moved from somewhere in Alaska. They're starting school here this year."

Then a few things seemed to happen at once. A gust of wind blew and my hair covered my face, temporarily blocking the beautiful people from view. The bronze one's head snapped up to stare at me, and he let out a strange sound. If I hadn't know better I would have sworn he was snarling.

I stared at him. He had a look of hatred on his face that was both glorious and terrifying at the same time. I took a step back involuntarily.

He seemed to move forwards for a moment, but was then held back. The blonde guy was holding him securely in an arm lock, and the girl was whispering something so quietly I didn't have a chance of hearing her. The bronze haired boy now seemed to be holding his breath. He was still staring at me, but he didn't look as angry. A few more hurried whispers and the boy turned, he was very graceful, and he ran, he was very fast, away.

The blonde guy and dark girl were still there, now talking to each other in hurried whispers. "What was that all about?" I wondered.

"Beats me. Still I've only met them a couple of times, but I've never seen him act like that before."

I gulped down this new fear. Did he react like that because of me? Me, and Jessica started to walk towards the bookstore again. And this time the girl's head snapped up. She stared at me, not with hatred like I was expecting, but with curiosity. I tried to avoid her gaze, but it was difficult. I spend around five minutes looking at the books, but there wasn't much choice. So I settled on a new copy of Wuthering Heights, since my copy was starting to disintegrate.

We walked back out onto the street, and I looked round automatically for the couple. I couldn't see them, so I figured they must have moved on, for some reason I wanted to start talking about him again. "So… the guy with the bronze hair, what was his name?"

She gave me a knowing look, "His name was Edward Cullen. And I'm pretty sure every girl in Forks is going to be trying to get his attention."

I nodded, I could see why. "So… why did they move here?"

"They went to some special school in Alaska. A school for kids that are really smart. Then their dad got offered a job as a doctor and he took it. The guy with blonde hair was Jasper Hale, and he's dating Alice Cullen. Then there's Alice's brother and he's dating Jasper's sister. He's called Emmett and she's called Rosalie."

I frowned slightly before continuing. "I thought you said they were brother and sister?"

"Oh they are." She laughed. "They've all been adopted. They're not related."

I smiled slightly. That made more sense. "And Edward is the only one who's single?"

She grinned widely. "Yep. But I'm pretty sure he won't be for long. He is unbelievably gorgeous."

I laughed lightly. I was sure that Jessica was going to be one of the people trying to get Edward to notice them. Can't say I blame her. She then started comparing Edward to every other guy in Forks, it sounded like nobody could compare.

We met up with Jessica's mom and drove back to Forks. "Hey." Jessica had an idea. "I'm meeting some friends tomorrow. We're going to the movies. Do you want to come?"

I deliberated for a short moment. Some friends in Forks would be nice, since I didn't really have friends anywhere else. "Sure."

She smiled and seemed genuinely pleased that I would be meeting her friends tomorrow. I waved bye to her and her mom, and then walked inside to greet Charlie.

"Hey Kiddo." Charlie heaved himself up from the couch. "How was shopping?"

I sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you dad and say that shopping was fun, especially when I wasn't paying for myself, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought."

He chuckled.

"Jessica was nice." I carried on. "And we bumped into a few people."

He raised an eyebrow. "Jessica's friends? Who?"

"Well… they weren't exactly her friends. Three of the Cullen's."

"Oh them." Charlie frowned slightly.

"What's wrong, dad?" He didn't look as happy as he did a minute ago.

"Nothing, nothing." He said hastily. But then he noticed I wasn't buying it. "Well… five adopted teenagers all living in the same house… they could be trouble. I haven't heard anything bad about them, I guess it's just the cop in me that's worried."

I laughed lightly. "Goodnight dad."

I waved and headed up the stairs. I wanted to think about my day. I remembered the look of hatred on his face, the look of absolute disgust, I couldn't understand how he could hate me so much. I tried not to let this bother me, and focused instead on my day tomorrow with Jessica and her friends. With friends and my new winter wardrobe, hopefully this would be my best vacation yet.

**This is my first Edward and Bella fanfic, so I'm hoping I wrote it out alright! Please review, and I will continue it, if nobody likes it then I won't! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I was actually really surprised with the response it had since I thought the first chapter was really messily written. And thank you to everyone who added this to their story alerts and favourites, you guys made me want to write faster. I'm sorry the update took so long, I was really busy, and I still am! But I will try and write whenever I can. I am dedicating this chapter to my first reviewer, TheGodsCanDance! Hope everyone likes this chapter…**

The next morning I woke, with a medley of feelings pulsing through me. I felt nervous and happy about meeting Jessica's friends, but I also felt tense and somewhat scared about Edwards glare that he had given me yesterday. I wondered briefly about that, what could make him hate me so much? And then I tried to remember what I had been thinking when he looked at me as angrily as he did. I couldn't recall what had been going through my mind. It seemed as though my thoughts had gone fuzzy when I looked at him, had he really been that good looking? I couldn't remember.

I rolled out of bed and looked around for a pair of jeans. It was a straight choice between my pair of comfy, favourite jeans or a pair that I had bought yesterday that Jessica had told me fitted me really well. On a whim, I took the new pair, they did look really nice, and I just hoped we wouldn't be doing anything that required me to move faster than a brisk walk. I couldn't help hoping that Edward would see me in them. I brushed this off quickly as a reaction to how beautiful he was; any girl would do the same. I wanted to see him again, but it wasn't like he would ever be interested in me.

I chose a cute t-shirt, also new, and walked down the stairs to make breakfast. Just cereal and milk, there was nothing else in the fridge.

Charlie walked down the stairs whilst I was washing the bowl. "Morning Bells." He greeted me, he was always happy to see me when I was here in the morning.

"Hey dad." I returned his smile.

He didn't say much as he made himself breakfast, and I didn't particularly want to break the silence. "Dad?" I started, keeping my tone nonchalant, I caught his attention and he looked upwards at me. "Would it be okay if I met up with Jessica and a few of her friends today?" I asked him.

He raised his eyebrows. "Jessica invited you out with some of her friends? Really?"

"Don't sound too surprised dad." I mumbled quietly, embarrassed that he was so shocked, but then again, I couldn't blame him, I didn't really mix well with people my age. My mom always said I had been born thirty-five and that I got more middle-aged every year. Or maybe I just didn't mix well with people altogether.

"Sorry." He mumbled, "Sure that would be fine. What time are you meeting them?"

"I'm not sure…" I bit my lip, what if she didn't call. Then I wondered what state I would be in when this vactation drew to a close, I seemed to be getting more and more anxious as time went by.

"Jessica will call you before she comes to pick you up." He sounded confident enough, he did know Jessica better than I did. Comforted slightly, I settled down on the couch in the handkerchief-sized living room with a battered copy of Jane Eyre, and waited for Jessica to call. Even a complete stranger would be able to tell that my dad had never really got over my mom, I thought as I looked over at the pictures on the wall.

I didn't have to wait long, it proved, when Jessica called at 10am to tell me she would pick me up at 12, and her mom would drive us to Port Angeles. I thanked her and waited two hours for her to arrive. When she knocked at the door, I had just got to the part where Jane left and I found myself wanting to carry on reading and I was slightly annoyed by her arrival. I pulled my hair up carefully into a ponytail and followed Charlie out of the room.

"Hey, Bella." She called happily when I walked out into the hall.

"Hi, Jess." I smiled at her; she was bouncing on the soles of her feet and had a slightly comical grin on her face.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked me; I grabbed my purse, said bye to Charlie and followed her out of the house.

"Hey, Bella." Her mom greeted me when I climbed in the back of her car.

"Hi, Mrs Stanley." I said politely. I looked over at Jessica; she was bouncing in her seat and looked like she was having trouble fastening her seat belt. "What are you so excited about?" I asked her smiling.

She looked up at me grinning, "Nothing, just looking forward to seeing the movie."

I nodded, she didn't look like she was telling the whole truth, but I took her word for it.

The whole ride she chattered to me about all her friends, telling me about their likes and dislikes and telling me what she found annoying about them, and what wasn't. By the end of the ride, I knew that a girl called Lauren was spiteful and bitchy, which I thought was a little rich coming from her, and girl called Angela was a little too quiet, a guy called Ben needed serious fashion advice and a guy called Mike hadn't had a girlfriend in a while, she didn't say anything mean about him and a slightly dreamy expression crossed her face when she spoke, which led to believe that she already had someone in mind for him.

Her mom dropped us off in the car park and we walked inside. I was slightly behind her, she had more energy then a three-month-old puppy on crack, and she led me over to a group of people standing near to the ticket counter.

"Hi guys." She shrieked and ran over to them waving her arms around. I hung back slightly, while she gave the girls hugs and said hellos to the guys. She spoke to them for a few seconds while I hovered nervously behind her. It took her a few seconds to remember me. "Guy's you have to meet someone." She grinned at them all and turned around to beckon me closer. "This is Charlie Swan's daughter." She introduced me. And I gave an embarrassed, nervous wave.

"Isabella." Called one guy. He had gelled blond hair and blue eyes. He had a cute round face, he was smiling at me, I rarely had guys smile at me, especially not in the way he was doing now, and it was infectious so I smiled back. His grin widened he seemed encouraged, so he walked closer to me. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." I told him, and his smiled grew larger again, the way he was looking at me surprised me and I felt slightly embarrassed by it, I hoped I wouldn't start blushing. "But please call me Bella."

"Bella." Jessica walked over so she was standing next to me. The look on her face told me that she had mixed feelings about me meeting her friends. On the one had she was happy that it seemed this guy had accepted me, but there seemed to be something else too, jealousy? "This is Mike." She gestured to the cute, blond guy. "This is Ben," she pulled me away by the arm to meet a small Asian guy with glasses, he waved at me, "Angela," a tall girl with light brown hair smiled, "And this is Lauren." The last girl was very pretty and had long corn silk hair; she didn't smile, only looked at me up and down before examining my face. I felt my face growing hot under her scrutiny.

"Let's go buy the tickets." She announced, turning away. I breathed a sigh of relief and we all followed her. I joined the queue last and when I paid my eight dollars I found that they had not waited for me. I saw them buying drinks and Ben buying popcorn. Walking over to them I heard a voice calling to me, turning I found Mike was standing following me, he was the only one who had waited.

"Bella." He smiled as he called my name and accompanied me to the rest of the group. He was looking at me again, and I couldn't tell whether I found his lingering gaze uncomfortable or flattering.

When we joined them Jessica was telling them all a long story about something a guy called Eric had done, they were all laughing at him, and I felt bad for the guy. Jessica stopped rather abruptly in her story and stared at something behind me. Lauren and Angela were staring too, and were smoothing down their hair. I glanced around uncertainly and found what had caught their attention.

Edward Cullen, the gorgeous guy from yesterday was leaning against the wall with his sister Alice and his brother Jasper. The people walking past them were all staring curiously; they couldn't help it and neither could I. Edward was stood casually and had an air of independence about him that I couldn't help but find attractive. Then there was of course, his face. He had the face of an angel; he had a perfect, straight nose, chiselled jaw and beautiful butterscotch eyes that seemed to smoulder from underneath his messy bronze hair. The one thing that scared me most was that he was looking right at me. I felt my knees wobbly slightly and I turned away to look at Mike instead. He was the only one out of the group, possibly the room, who hadn't started ogling the three beautiful people and he was staring right at me. I turned away from him and looked again instead at Jessica who was hurriedly applying lip-gloss. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Lets go." She said loudly drawing attention to herself deliberately. "The movie will start soon." And she flounced away towards the screen, sneaking glances back at Edward.

We all filed into a row, I was sat between Jessica and Mike. Jessica turned to me and said excitedly, "Did you see that? Edward was staring right at me, maybe he will come and see this movie because he knows I'll be in here, and even if he doesn't I'll see him when school starts." I listened to her rambling and felt slightly saddened. I knew he couldn't have been staring at me. She turned away and started talking to Lauren on her other side, who was complaining about how unhealthy popcorn was, and I settled back in my seat.

"Have you seen this movie before?" Mike asked me quietly.

I turned to him, "No."

He smiled, "I have, the special effects are amazing."

I nodded and waited for him to elaborate on his statement, but he didn't so I faced the front and watched the previews instead. They were all talking to each other loudly, and I felt slightly bad for the other people in the audience, but we all quietened down once the movie started. I would have put my arms on the arm rests but Jessica had claimed one of them, and was drumming her fingernails on it repetitively and the other was taken by Mike, who had his palm face up in an unnatural looking position. I shifted uncomfortably when I realised we were watching some kind of horror moive. I lifted my knees onto the chair and hugged them; I didn't want to make a fool of myself by screaming when the scary scenes started. I made the cowardly lion look like the terminator.

It turned out when the movie finished that it wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be. We all walked outside and towards some shops, I hadn't realised we would go shopping, I didn't have any money, so I just followed them as they walked inside a very expensive looking clothes store. I stood with Mike and Ben while the girls tried on shoes, "Is everything alright Bella?" Lauren asked me innocently, "Or do you just want to stand with Mike?"

I turned to look at the sly expression on her face; I couldn't work out what she was trying to do. "Everything's fine." I said politely. "I just don't have any money for clothes." Her eyes narrowed, but she turned away and carried on zipping up the pair of very expensive looking leather boots. I turned to Jessica, who was looking from me to Mike and back again suspiciously. Casually I walked away from him and closer to the clothes rail and flicked through the shirts, when I looked back again Mike wasn't looking at me, and Jessica looked happier.

I didn't complain when they wandered off to look at clothes. Whenever they had taken the wrong sized clothes into the changing room, I obediently helped them by fetching other clothes back to them. I felt like a pet Labrador, but didn't really mind, it seemed to be helping me fit in more. Mike tried to help me, whenever I was sent looking for shirts and jeans he would search too. He was trying to be really nice, and I wasn't sure how to thank him, so I just smiled at him gratefully and he smiled back.

Once they had finished in that store, only buying one shirt each, we all walked down the street to another store, one that was less expensive and looked like the clothes were more comfortable. I rummaged round in my purse and found 15 dollars, just enough money for a pair of shorts or a shirt. I took a nice pair of denim shorts off the shelf and carried them into the changing room with me. Not my usual style, but I found that I really liked them. I searched for Jessica in the store and asked her for her opinion.

"They're really cute." She squeaked. "But I thought you said you had no money with you?"

"I couldn't afford anything in the first store." I corrected her.

She frowned and looked at me suspiciously again; I just turned away and walked back over to her again once I had bought them. She was talking to Mike; he seemed to be paying attention, but only out of politeness, not genuine interest. He turned away from her when I joined the two of them, "Hi Bella." He smiled and looked at the bright green plastic bag, "What did you buy?"

"Some shorts." I told him, taking them out to show him.

"They're nice." He complimented me. "You should wear them tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I asked.

He nodded. "We're all going to play baseball, you can come if you like."

I smiled, "Thanks Mike, but I honestly can't play baseball."

"That's okay." He told me, "You can sit out if you want."

I grinned. Mike really was chivalrous. "Thanks."

"Mike." Called Jessica, claiming his attention, "Can you teach me how to play?"

"You already know how to play baseball." He told her, his tone of voice still managing to stay polite.

"Yeah, but not as well as you." she fluttered her eyelashes. He shrugged, seeming impervious to her attempts at flirting, and she flung her arms around him. "Thank you so much." She whispered in his ear, in a voice that I guessed was trying to sound seductive. It made me want to gag.

"Time to go home, guys." Lauren told us all and we walked back to the parking lot where their parents' cars were already parked up. Jessica hugged everyone and I waved before sliding into the backseat.

"So." Started Jessica after closing her door, "How did you like everyone?"

"Everyone was nice." I assured her untruthfully. I had always been a bad liar, so I hoped that she wouldn't see through me. She peered at me but didn't push the subject matter further, so I just listened to her chatter about the movie, the hot leading actor and how Edward Cullen had stared at her earlier.

When the car pulled up outside my house, I thanked her mom and started to wave bye. "We'll pick you up at 1pm tomorrow." Jessica informed me, I nodded and watched the car drive away.

Charlie greeted me when I walked in through the door. "Hey Bells." He grinned at me.

"Hi dad."

"Did you have a nice time?" he followed me into the kitchen.

I grabbed an apple from the bowl and answered him, "Yes, Jessica's friends were really nice."

"Who were they?"

"What's with the interrogation dad?" I joked.

He shrugged, "Nothing."

"Two guys called Ben and Mike and two girls called Angela and Lauren."

"Mike… Mike…" Charlie trailed off, "That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid… nice kid…"

"Um right." I walked round him nervously. "I'm meeting them all again tomorrow."

"What for?" he raised an eyebrow, he knew I had never been very good at making friends.

"We're playing… baseball." I gulped anxiously when I realised what I had just agreed to. I was completely inept at all sports.

"Baseball?" Charlie laughed.

I nodded, my face growing red. "Night dad." I called.

"Night Bells."

**So, how'd everyone like the chapter? I don't know why, but I'm not really happy with it... never mind! Edward and Bella haven't met yet, but don't worry... Please review, you know I love all of your opinions :) They make me want to write faster ;) Thanks guys.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the lovely reviews! I'm sending virtual hugs all round! This chapter is dedicated to Silversbreath, who offered me a hot fudge sundae with Edward on top as my prize for originality! I would happily accept! I think I'm the only person to use this plotline… anyway, just to make one thing clear that came up in the reviews, this is definitely an EdwardxBella fic! Enjoy…**

The next morning I woke up with a growing sense of uneasiness and it took me a moment to remember what I was so worried about. Then it hit me, and I wanted to lie back down and go to sleep. Baseball. "Why did you agree to this Bella?" I asked myself miserably, Bella and baseball, the two did not mix.

I stopped referring to myself in the third person and climbed out of bed reluctantly. I tugged a t-shirt over my head and stood still, thinking. I could either wear the shorts that Mike had said looked nice, or a pair of comfy jeans. I took the jeans.

I stood in the kitchen, waiting for the toaster to pop, glaring out of the window. It was raining, not exactly a surprise, but I had wished it had been sunny. The rain should have been a good excuse to get out of baseball, but unfortunately, in Washington the weather didn't ruin anyone's spirits when it came to sports. I barely tasted my toast and I picked up Jane Eyre to try and forget about the humiliation I was about to endure.

Unfortunately, my distraction worked a little too well and I lost track of time. Jessica arrived at the door, and I hurried to drag a brush through my hair and fasten it in a ponytail before letting her in. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet again. "Come on Bella, let's go."

I laughed, "What's the hurry?" I was stalling, anything to delay the baseball game.

"Nothing, nothing." She didn't look at me when she spoke. I was having suspicions about the way she felt towards Mike again. "Hurry up."

I sighed and followed her out of the door, closing it behind me. Jessica babbled on in the short car journey, about what I didn't know, I was busy. Busy trying to decide what the best way was to get out of baseball. I could fake a sprained ankle? I'd had enough experience to make it sound plausible.

The car stopped outside a field and the rain had slowed to a drizzle, it would stop soon. Me, and Jessica made it over to the group of people standing in the middle. Mike waved and walked over to meet us halfway. "Hi, glad you could make it."

"So are we." Jessica giggled, but I had the feeling that he had been speaking mostly towards me. That didn't help settle my feelings of unease.

As the rest of the group joined us I realised there was a lot more people than I had met previously. Jessica dragged me over to introduce me. "Guys, this is Bella. Bella this is Tyler, Whitney, Austin, Lee, Connor and Eric." I waved at them awkwardly.

Looking at Eric, I could see that he was the guy they had been talking about yesterday. I felt an immediate pang of sympathy towards him; he was obviously the overly helpful chess club type, and a surge of annoyance towards everyone that had been there yesterday. He obviously considered them as his friends, but then again, this was a small town, maybe everybody gossiped. I gave him a sympathetic smile. He looked surprised for a second, but then smiled back.

"Guys." Called Mike, "I think the Cullen kids might turn up."

My head snapped immediately to him, but my thoughts were elsewhere, the Cullen's. Edward Cullen and his messy bronze hair and pale pallor and the strange way he had looked at me in Port Angeles.

Jessica shrieked. "The Cullen's? Why didn't you tell us? How did you invite them?"

Mike shrugged. I got the impression that he didn't like the Cullen's very much. "My mom went to Whitney's mom's party and Mrs Cullen was there. My mom mentioned that we were coming to play baseball and asked her if her kids could come."

"What did she say?" Jessica yelled. Her and Lauren were both hanging onto Mike's arm, listening to him intently.

Mike shrugged again nonchalantly, "She said they enjoyed baseball and she'd tell them about the game. I'm pretty sure they'll be coming though."

"How do you know?" Jessica breathed.

"Because they're walking towards us now."

All eyes had been fixed on Mike, but then they all immediately swivelled in all directions, searching for the five figures that we all wanted to see. I was alerted to their presence when Jessica and Lauren started giggling and whispering behind their hands. I stared in the direction they were looking in and saw them.

The five teenagers were flowing towards us with unbelievable grace. Their hair was mussed up slightly by the wind but it didn't ruin the effect at all, if anything it added to it. They looked like they could have been shooting a commercial for baseball caps. It was hard to believe that they were all our age or a year older. A blonde girl at the end shook out her flowing locks, and heard Lauren whisper quietly about her. Rosalie, she said her name was, Lauren was making plans for a new best friend. Alice, the pixie like girl with inky black hair was watching me. I didn't make eye contact, instead looking Jasper, and another burly, curly haired guy. The dark haired guy was muscled like a serious weightlifter, the thick bands of muscle wrapped around his arms and torso rippled as he walked.

I saved the bronze haired boy for last, partly because I wasn't looking forward to seeing the angry expression on his face that I expected, and partly because I didn't want to loose my train of thought. I realised I had been smart to do so when my eyes locked with his snowy features. His angular face was the most beautiful. His full lips parted slightly, eyes sweeping across the group they came to rest on me. He wasn't angry; he just looked like he was expecting something. There was something he wanted of me, and I couldn't look away from his golden butterscotch eyes, they were almost hypnotic. My hands started to shake.

"Bella?" Mike's worried voice brought me out of my stupor.

I glanced over to him and nodded in acknowledgement before turning back to see that the Cullen's had already joined us. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and the burly guy who introduced himself as Emmett were stood in a group, pointedly ignoring the rest of us. While Jessica and Lauren were stood, trying to claim Edward's attention, but he wasn't listening. Boredom was written all over his face. He wasn't even looking at them.

He was looking at me.

I felt my knees tremble slightly and my cheeks start to burn, I looked away to try and re-gather my thoughts. I looked down creating a curtain of hair hiding my face from view. A few moments later I looked up from under my hair assuming no one would be looking. But Edward was looking at me, still. I felt the all too familiar blush rise to my cheeks. As soon as this happened he physically tensed. I scrunched my face up slightly in confusion,

"So," Mike caught my attention, "We have to split into two teams. I'll do a head count." I waited while he counted us, trying not to look at Edward, but it was difficult, I almost seemed drawn to him. "Okay, well we're an odd number."

"I'll sit out." I called anxiously. All heads turned to me, and I felt my face burn again.

"You don't have to that if you don't want to Bella." Mike told me.

I shook my head, smiling. "It's fine, I don't mind."

He shrugged, "Well… if you're sure…" he turned away and started dividing everyone into teams, but he looked sorry to see me go.

I made my way over to the edge of the field where there were two benches next to each other. I could feel everyone's gaze following me and I blushed again. I was just glad that I was too far away from them to see. I sat down to watch the game, with what little knowledge of baseball that I had, I could see they had divided into two teams. The Cullen's, Jessica and Lauren against everyone else. The Cullen's team were batting first. I hoped they were good. Jessica and Lauren were busy talking behind their hands about them. Emmett and Rosalie were holding hands, as were Alice and Jasper, I could clearly see who they had both set their sights on.

Edward was up to bat first. Even from a distance I could tell that he was strikingly, almost inhumanely beautiful. He held the bat casually, but somehow still looked like a pro. The wind whistled through the field, spreading leaves across the grass and messing up his bronze hair even more. Tyler, who was stood facing him, had an intimidating wind up, and I could see that he threw the ball as hard as he could, but this didn't seem to bother Edward. He swung the bat so fast it was almost like a blur, and the ball flew into the outfield, where Mike was running after it as fast as he could. Edward shot around the bases gracefully. He looked as beautiful as a god, and just as free. He glanced towards me when he reached his family again, his expression was once again confused, and anxious. I avoided his eyes, instead looking at Mike who had only just reached the ball. He threw it as hard as he could back to Tyler, with a look of determination on his face.

The game past slowly, the Cullen's pretty much slaughtered the other team. They were good enough to make up for Lauren and Jessica, who were both busy reapplying makeup when Edward wasn't looking. When it was Whitney's turn to bat she stood holding it, complaining that she didn't know how and demanding that Edward teach her. Either he wasn't listening, or he ignored her whines. She pouted and dropped the bat to the ground and announced that she wasn't playing before storming off to sit at the edge of the field, about as far away from me as possible.

Mike stared after her. "Oh great." He snapped. "Now we have an odd number."

I shook my head sadly, praying that they wouldn't ask me to join in.

"I'll sit out." A clear, pretty voice called out. My head snapped up and I saw tiny Alice Cullen walking towards me.

I glanced down again nervously, avoiding eye contact.

"Hello." I heard her say softly.

I jumped. I hadn't realised she had been so close. Surely I should have heard her footsteps? I shook these thoughts out of my head and paid closer attention to her. She was sitting on the bench next to me, watching me curiously, her black hair stuck up in all directions, her pale, perfect features were some of the most beautiful I had ever seen, only rivalled by that of her families. I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

I had to clear my throat before speaking. "Hi."

Her perfect lips turned up into a smile as her eyes raked over my face. "You must be Isabella Swan."

I suppressed a groan. "I prefer Bella."

She nodded and didn't look at all surprised. "Bella. How are you enjoying Forks?" she enquired politely.

"It's…" I paused for a moment while I thought of the right word. "…Wet."

She laughed. "It is, but I like rainy, cloudy weather." I nodded in acknowledgement of her words. "But you don't." she clarified.

I shook my head. "The weather in Phoenix is much more appealing to me."

"I see." She said peering up at me. We sat in silence for a few more minutes, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was like a silence between two best friends. Emmett was up to bat, I noticed Mike watching me and I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Tyler threw the ball and I heard the smack as the wood made contact with it. My mouth fell open as the ball flew almost impossibly high; the fielders were moving around to stand underneath where they thought the ball would land. Mike was closest, and he ran, holding his hands outstretched, reaching for the ball as it plummeted, almost like a meteor, back to earth until it hit him square in the face. Mike fell to the ground, holding his face in his hands while everyone else screamed and ran towards him. I leapt up in worry, but he was soon back on his feet. It didn't look like the ball had hit him hard, but there was a nasty looking bruise forming on his cheek. He looked embarrassed, but I swear I heard Edward, Emmett and Jasper laughing. The game carried on playing and the Cullen's team started fielding and I was trying to inconspicuously look at Edward out of the corner of my eye. "So…" Alice started and I jerked around to look at her. "You don't like baseball?"

"No." I answered.

"Why not?" she asked before I had even managed to open my mouth to explain.

"When I play sports I tend to injure other people around me."

Alice laughed. "What do you like to do in your free time?"

"I read a lot." I told her, hoping she wouldn't think me weird, but she just nodded. "What are your hobbies?" I tried to steer the conversation away from myself.

"Well… I have a slight shopping addiction." She grinned. "And I mostly hang out with my family and Jasper. How long are you planning on staying on Forks?"

"Um… maybe six weeks?" it sounded like a question.

Her eyes narrowed. "And you went shopping with Jessica for clothes to wear here?"

I nodded.

Her eyes scanned my face again, before she clapped her hands together excitedly. "We should go shopping!" She exclaimed.

"Huh?" I glanced back over at the field; all of the Cullen's eyes were on me, but the only pair of eyes I really cared about were Edwards, and they looked angry. I flinched slightly before answering her. "Oh no."

"What was that?" she asked politely.

"Shopping isn't really my thing." I told her.

"Ah, but you have never been shopping with me."

"Look… I… I really…"

"Don't worry." She grinned. "I know exactly what will work on you."

"But…" I stammered nervously, "Charlie will worry about me."

She chuckled. "We can go tomorrow. Charlie will be fine with it. Trust me."

I gaped at her, my jaw hanging open. "Are you serious?"

She looked pointedly at me. "Sure. Now come on." she pulled my arm and led me back towards the rest of the group, who I now realised had finished playing their game. Her family all stared at her, their expressions changing from disbelief to anger, she ignored them, and instead she spoke to me. "Okay, so how about we pick you up tomorrow at 9:00am?"

"I… um…"

"Or would you prefer to have a lie in?"

"No, 9:00 am is fine, I guess."

"Great!" She cried happily, hugging me. I wrapped my arms around her hesitantly and hugged her back. She was very cold.

"Alice…" I heard a voice say quietly. The most beautiful voice I had ever heard, it was velvety, muted. "Alice, we have to go." The voice spoke again.

Alice sighed and released me. "Bye Bella. See you tomorrow." She waved. I smiled and waved back. There was something about Alice that I really liked and, weirdly, I was looking forward to the next day.

I sat down back on the bench, waiting for Jessica's mom. Mike walked over and joined me. He didn't look happy. "What was the final score?" I asked.

He shook his head like he didn't want to remember it. "It doesn't matter. The point is we lost." He looked like he was in shock. "They didn't even look like they were trying."

Jessica and Lauren joined us momentarily, the two of them gossiping about the Cullen's. I made polite conversation with Mike, and Jessica ignored me for a while until her mom finally picked us up. Once the two of us were in the back of the car I listened to her blab about looks that Edward had given her and how sure she was that he would ask her out. I nodded along, feigning interest, not wanting to ruin her good mood, I didn't tell her that I hadn't seen Edward look at her once. "So-" she started as if hit by a sudden thought, "What were you and Alice talking to each other about?"

I shrugged, "Forks mostly."

She nodded. "What else?"

"Um… she invited me to go shopping with her tomorrow."

Jessica swivelled in her seat to face me. "She invited you shopping?" I nodded. "Will her brother be going with you?" she demanded.

"I don't think so."

"Oh." She settled back into her seat, looking satisfied that he wouldn't be accompanying us. But then again, I didn't see why he would want to join us. He would be hanging out with his sister and me and I wasn't anything special.

I thanked Jessica and her mom when they dropped me off, it had started to rain again, and so I ran inside to Charlie. He was sitting on the couch, flicking through the channels when I walked in. "Bella?"

Who else? I thought. "Yeah it's me."

"How did the game go?" he asked pleasantly, looking up as I sat down next to him.

"Good."

"Did your team win?"

"Actually I didn't play." I admitted.

He laughed. "Why not?"

"You know why. I haven't inherited my balance problems from my mother."

Charlie chuckled pleasantly, turning his attention back to the television.

"Um, dad?" I started cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"Would it be okay if I go out tomorrow with Alice Cullen?"

He turned and looked at me in disbelief. "Why?"

"She invited me to go shopping with her."

"Shopping?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes."

"If you really want to," he agreed, eyes widening.

I grinned. "Thanks dad."

**I'm sorry it took so long to update! I actually had to write this chapter out a few times, my computer kept turning itself off before I had a chance to save it. Just so you all know, the field that they used to play baseball is not the same place that the Cullen's use in Twilight! Please review and tell me what you think**!


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for the reviews! I completely loved them. I would give you all a hug, if it weren't for the distance and the fact that I don't really know any of you! But you guys can settle for virtual hugs, right? Virtual hugs guys, virtual hugs! I would just like to say to TheGodsCanDance that you are my favourite reviewer, because you have reviewed every chapter so far, and your reviews make me feel all happy! This chapter is dedicated to Mrs Cullen For Life, for being awesome!**

The rest of the day past with Charlie and me both in silence, the two of us didn't mind the quiet. We were both very similar in that respect. I spent most of my time reading Wuthering Heights; I had just finished Jane Eyre, and had cried, of course. Charlie grumbled to himself incoherently while watching a baseball match, probably complaining about how unfair it was that his favourite team were losing. I chuckled to myself quietly, and he noticed. "What's so funny, Bells?" he asked smiling.

"Nothing." I shook my head and turned back to my book, still suppressing giggles.

He raised an eyebrow. "Looking forward to shopping tomorrow?" I made face and he laughed. "I thought you were starting to like shopping?"

I stared at him. "What made you think that?"

"Well…" he deliberated for a moment, "First you went shopping with Jessica, and then you went shopping with her again and tomorrow you're going with Alice Cullen."

I sighed. "I'm just being forced into everything." I told him truthfully. "You forced me shopping with Jessica the first time, and the second time she, and everyone else, forced me into it. And earlier today Alice forced me into saying yes. It wasn't by choice."

Charlie grinned at me. "How did Alice force you?" I knew he was picturing a comical scene where tiny Alice dragged me around into a clothes store.

I ignored him, instead concentrating on the book. I heard Charlie laugh, and I smiled to myself. He was truly happier now that he was more confident that I was enjoying myself.

Later, I put my book down for half an hour while I took a shower and washed my hair, using my favourite strawberry scented shampoo, and then changed for bed. I stayed up late that night, reading until 2am. Somehow, despite my excitement, I managed to fall asleep.

* * *

I woke up early, and could tell that I hadn't had much sleep. Reluctantly, I struggled to roll out of bed and wandered, in a dream like state, down the stairs and into the kitchen. I swallowed a cereal bar without tasting it before stretching out on the couch in the front room. I almost slipped into a doze, but Charlie's heavy footsteps woke me while he was coming down the stairs. "Morning Bells." His voice sounded unusually loud in the morning, but I wasn't quite tired enough to miss the surprise in his voice.

"Hey, dad." I yawned.

Charlie laughed loudly, "not get much sleep?" he guessed.

I shook my head, picking myself off the couch to follow him into the kitchen. I glanced at the clock. Charlie noticed, "what time is Alice picking you up?" he asked.

I stifled another yawn before answering him, "9am."

I heard Charlie cough to stop himself from laughing.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, sitting down and resting my head on the table.

"Nothing, nothing." He amended himself hastily. "Why didn't you ask her if she could pick you up later?"

I shrugged innocently. "I didn't think I'd be this tired in the morning."

Charlie laughed, "How late did you stay up reading?"

I lifted my head up slowly and peered at him before answering him slowly, "Quite late…" He chortled as he poured milk onto his cereal, mockingly shaking his head. I laughed with him for a second, before resting my head on the table again.

"Bells, you'd better get dressed."

I groaned and struggled to get to my feet. Slowly, I trudged up the stairs and into my room before collapsing on the bed, where I laid for a few moments before crawling towards my closet. I grabbed the first shirt I found and pulled it on, and then did the same with the jeans. I took literally ten seconds to do my hair. Dragging a brush through it and then tying it in a messy ponytail.

I sat on the bottom step of the staircase to wait for Alice, leaning my head against the wall, willing myself to stay awake. I heard Charlie chuckle as he walked past me, but I paid him no attention.

I had dozed off, but woke by the sound of tapping on the front door. I groaned and walked over to open it, and was met by little squealing Alice, who immediately encased me in a hug, and squeezed me so tightly it was almost impossible to breathe. Despite her tiny size, the pixie was incredibly strong.

"Hey, Bella!" she sang after she released me. "Hi, Charlie!" she called into the house.

I turned and watched Charlie walk into the hall smiling. "Hello, Alice." He greeted her warmly. I glanced back at Alice's pale face, and was hit with a rush of jealously. She looked more beautiful then an airbrushed model.

Alice grinned at Charlie over my head. "What time would you like Bella back for?"

_Please_ _say_ _I_ _can't_ _stay_ _long_. I tried to tell Charlie with my eyes. But he wasn't looking at me. "She can stay out as long as she wants," he said, grinning.

I gaped at him. For all he knew Alice could have been some deranged psycho who wanted to kidnap me and then bury me in the woods. I glanced at the black Mercedes parked outside. I could just about make out a blond figure behind the steering wheel. And there's her sidekick in the getaway car, I thought miserably.

"Great!" Alice squealed and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the door, she turned back and waved, "Thanks Charlie," she called.

Alice pulled me behind her into the backseat of the car and buckled her seatbelt in one swift, fluid motion. I clumsily fastened myself in.

When I looked back up at her, she was grinning at me happily. "We are going to have so much fun, you and me," she told me. "And this is my dad, Carlisle." Carlisle Cullen had turned round in his seat to smile at me.

"Hello, Bella."

I smiled timidly, said hello back, and was grateful when he turned around and started up the car engine. Carlisle was defiantly one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen. He looked like a film star, a young, gorgeous film star.

During the ride to Port Angeles, Alice chattered away, with Carlisle making his contribution whenever she paused for breath. Alice told me about her family, and described the school they had gone to in Alaska. By the end of the ride, I was sure that they were the two nicest people I had ever met, and all fears of being killed and then buried in the woods had disappeared. I wondered how I could have ever thought that about them.

"Okay…" Alice sang after we had said goodbye to Carlisle and then climbed out of the car, well, I had climbed, she had jumped out like a professional gymnast. "First, we're going to go…" and she started telling me the directions of the first store. It was a place that had been far too expensive for me to visit with Jessica, a place that I would never dare enter in case I fell into some jewellery and had to pay thousands of dollars for it. I deliberated outside the entrance for a few moments, before Alice took a firm hold of my elbow and dragged me inside.

She steered me first towards the far end of the store, with me following her hopelessly. We reached the back wall, where elegant dresses, that looked like they would cost more money then I would earn in a lifetime, hung. Alice seemed to know exactly where she was going as she led me to one dress in particular. It was a softly frilly, hyacinth blue obviously meant to be worn low and off the shoulders, with long draping sleeves that gathered at the wrists. The fabric pleated together to form a thin ruffle on the left side. **(Pic** **on** **profile.)** Alice took it down gently and held it up. "What do you think?"

I gaped at her open-mouthed. "Oh-no."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Alice, I haven't brought much money with me…"

She waved her arm at me impatiently, "the colour really suits you," she hinted, while wandering slightly towards the dressing rooms.

I backed away, but she countered my steps.

"Aww… Bella, please try it on."

I would have refused again, if Alice hadn't looked like she was about to cry. I groaned and took the dress from her. She laughed prettily, and followed me in.

I changed, while she talked to me from behind the curtain. "… Bella, I just know you're going to look so beautiful…" I stopped listening, shaking my head at the absurdities that she said.

After changing, I stood and stared at the stranger in the mirror. Amazed at how the dress changed my appearance, and accentuated curves I never realised I had, and I couldn't help noticing that Alice was right. The colour really did go well with my skin.

I could hear Alice bouncing impatiently, her heels making loud clacking noises on the polished floor. "Bella…" she let out a whine.

I laughed, "yes, Alice?"

"Can I see you now?" she practically begged.

I sighed. "Sure, I'm coming out." Taking one last look at myself in the mirror, I found some new confidence from somewhere, swiftly drew back the curtain and stepped out.

I heard a squeal from Alice before I saw her. She jumped up and down, before skipping over to me, looking as graceful as an angel. "Bella…" she spoke in her clear soprano voice, "you look so beautiful." She must have seen something in my expression because she laughed and said, "obviously. I mean, you look beautiful anyway, but the dress… makes you look even more beautiful!"

I felt myself blush from her compliments, not all sure that I deserved them, and I scurried away to change back into my clothes.

Once I was out, Alice took the dress from me and started to prance towards to checkout. I gasped and rushed forward to grab her jacket from behind and stop her in her tracks. She turned around with an eyebrow raised. "What?"

"I can't afford that."

I didn't know how much the dress would cost, the label was in French, but I knew that there was no way the money Charlie had given me would cover the cost of the beautiful blue dress.

She shrugged, "So?"

I felt my mouth fall open. "You cannot buy this for me."

She grinned at me. "Why not? You like it don't you?"

"Yes… but, I - "

She cut me off, "And I easily have enough money…" she trailed off suggestively.

"Alice…" I screwed my eyes shut. "When would I ever wear it?"

Alice stared at me for a few seconds, looking like she wasn't sure whether to take me seriously, but eventually she did and handed me the dress. I shook my head, hands closing around the soft material, I walked back to the rack it had come from, and hung it up.

I stood back to admire it wistfully one last time, before turning around and meeting an upset looking Alice. She was pouting miserably; with such a sad expression on her face I almost flung my arms round her, to hug her, without thinking. We stood like that for a few seconds, while she tried to guilt me into letting her buy me the dress, until something seemed to catch her eye.

"Oh… look necklaces!" she sang, a perfect smile back in place, "come on Bella." She grabbed my hand and led me towards them.

After a few minutes, I would have sworn on my life that Alice was part magpie. Everything shiny seemed to catch her eye, and she forced me into buying a delicate silver necklace.

After she danced around the makeup aisles with an endless supply of energy she finally let me leave the shop. I had bought nothing myself, the money I had barely covered the cheapest bottle of perfume, but she had paid for jewellery and makeup for the both of us. I had felt bad about it, but it seemed to make her happy.

"Where next?" she asked, turning to me.

"Um…" I still had no idea where anything was. "You decide."

She grinned. "How about…" she dragged me into another store, and insisted on a pair of skinny jeans, I didn't even dare look at the label for the price when I was trying them on. Alice bought them for me, and tore the label off before I could look at it. I sighed, feeling grateful that I would never have to know how much money she had spent on me, and horrified that she had spent enough that she thought I would freak out if I knew the price. After that I was forced into buying a skirt at another store, after admitting to an appaled Alice that I didn't own any.

We had been in Port Angeles for hours. The time had almost flown by, Alice was such a vivacious person, and it was impossible not to like her. She was kind and funny, kind of annoying, but in a good way. She rang Carlisle on her cell phone and we waited for him to pick us up. I smiled to myself, as she linked arms with me to walk across the road toward Carlisle's car.

"This has been so much fun, Bella!" she squeaked.

"It has." I agreed. I had never thought shopping could be so much fun.

"We're almost like sisters!" Alice squealed, before flinging her arms around me and hugging me so tightly she cut off my air supply. I laughed as I hugged her back. "Oooh… I've just had the best idea!" she exclaimed, releasing me and clapping her hands together excitedly. "You should come home and meet the rest of my family!"

"Oh… I … Um…" I trailed off thinking about the Cullen's and of one of them in particular. I remembered Edwards angry gaze as he looked at me, and flinched at the thought of meeting them again. But… the more I thought about him, the more I longed to see his face, to see his finely cut, beautiful face, and strangely coloured butterscotch eyes.

"Yep!" Alice squealed. "You should meet them. They'd completely love you."

The two of us sat in the car, and Alice asked permission from Carlisle for me to come over. He agreed and she had looked at me with something close to triumph on her face, and it was then that I noticed Alice's eyes. They were exactly the same colour as Edward's.

"You'll need to ring Charlie and tell him where you'll be," she said; reaching into her purse and hading me the small, sleek cell phone.

I dialled Charlie's work number, and he answered the phone on its second ring.

"Hi dad."

"Bells." He greeted me. "Is anything wrong?" he asked.

"No, no everything's fine." I assured him. "I was just wondering if I could go back to Alice's house tonight. I'll be late home."

"Sure, sure that's fine." I could almost hear his smile. "Don't be any trouble; right Bella?"

"Right dad." I laughed.

"Say thanks to Dr. Cullen for me."

"I will, bye."

Once I hung up I handed the phone back to Alice. She was looking at me expectantly.

"He says I can go."

Alice grinned, but didn't look surprised. "Excellent!"

She chatted away to me about her family and about how I would love them, and they would love me. I listened to her, happy that I had an excuse not to talk, but I was very nervous about meeting them.

I was certain that they didn't like me. None of them had even spoken to me, except Alice and Carlisle. I noticed the scenery changing, and we passed over the Calawah River, eventually we were travelling through a forest Carlisle drove fast, a little over the speed limit and we soon pulled down an un-paved drive and up towards a lawn, or medow where stood the most beautiful house that I had ever seen. It was big, and painted soft white with a deep porch that wrapped around the first story. It looked like a perfect home. A home that I was dreading entering. My heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of my skin; I would have been surprised if Alice and Carlisle couldn't hear it.

I climbed out of the car slowly, slipping as my feet made contact with the wet ground and catching myself on the frame. Alice skipped around the car, carrying all the bags herself, and took my hand before leading me towards the house. Leading me towards the unknown.

**After reading this chapter myself, I've realised it's only really a filler... still, never mind! I would love it if everyone who read this reviewed. Even if it is just a "I like it," or an "I hate it." If you review you get a virtual hug! And I'm going to do what I did with my JaredxKim fic, people who leave funny reviews get chapters dedicated to them! Or really nice reviews. Basically... please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the late update. I had a GCSE test/exam thingy and had hardly any time to write. Bad excuse, I know, but it's still true. Virtual hugs for all you reviewers! This chapter is dedicated to GalPal, I don't think she has an account, but still! Enjoy…**

I hung onto Alice's hand like my life depended on it. Although she was icy cold, I was so preoccupied I barely noticed and I didn't even care; at least it was something I could depend on. Something that proved that I wasn't alone, that I had a friend. She squeezed my hand back reassuringly.

Carlisle walked on ahead and opened the front door for us. He had a strange look on his face that I didn't understand. It looked close to fear. But that couldn't be right. Could it?

He walked inside first and we followed him, while I tried to control my franticly beating heart.

I swallowed nervously and looked around. It was very bright, very open and very large. The back, south facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass, and beyond that a bare lawn stretched to the wide river. The room was varying shades of white, the carpet, and the furniture, even the piano.

"Welcome!" Alice said dramatically, "to our home!"

I smiled glancing at Carlisle; he looked at me and seemed to sense my nervousness.

"I'm sorry about this, Bella." He told me, his tone of voice was joking, but something about him made me think he was serious.

"Where is everyone?" asked Alice.

"They've gone to see a movie." A voice called from the next room. I instantly relaxed when I found that I wouldn't have to speak to… him. I glanced round to see a beautiful woman with caramel coloured hair standing in the archway. She smiled at me kindly. "Hello, Bella. It's nice to meet you."

I smiled back. "It's nice to meet you too." I wondered if they could hear the quiver in my voice, "you have a beautiful home."

"Thank you." She hesitated before continuing, "Would you like something to eat?"

I nodded eagerly and she turned back into the kitchen. I turned towards Alice who grinned at me and led me forward. We sat down at the table and I watched the two chat while she cooked. They looked like two members of a perfect family and I relaxed even more.

Esme cooked spaghetti bolognaise for me and Alice and I noticed I was given much more than Alice was. Alice talked to me whilst I ate and she barely touched her food, no wonder she was so tiny, I thought to myself.

"And… Jasper and Rosalie are both twins." Alice had started to tell me about her family, and I was listening intently, hanging onto every word. "Their parents died. Esme was their aunt and her and Carlisle fostered them."

"That's so sad." I said, feeling a rush of sympathy towards the two gorgeous twins.

She nodded in agreement.

"What about you?"

"I was adopted, just like my brothers Emmett and Edward."

I watched her while she continued talking to me about their lives in Alaska and all the other places they had been to. I had worried at first that she would be like Jessica, and would prattle on while I had to pretend to be listening. But she wasn't, she was definitely more interesting. And the fact that most of her stories included a bronze-haired boy who I couldn't stop thinking about helped.

Alice picked up both of our plates and handed them to Esme so she could clean them, she then dragged me to sit in front of a huge television set so we could watch a cheesy movie.

Alice continued to tell me stories about tricks they had played on each other as children. Some of them seemed so far fetched I could hardly believe they were real.

"And then Emmett forced Edward to pretend he was his sister to try and get the free cookies!" I almost choked on a glass of water, I was laughing so hard, as Alice drew a very detailed picture of Edward in a pink frilly dress and bronze pigtails on a napkin.

"That seriously happened?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." Alice looked at me with such an innocent expression it was impossible to doubt her. "Now let me tell you about the time that Emmett stole Rosalie's underwear and threw them around the supermarket!"

And our laughing fest continued.

It reached 9pm and I glanced at Alice worriedly. I was having so much fun, but I wasn't sure what time Charlie wanted me back.

"Um… Alice?"

"Yeah?" Alice said, looking up. She had been painting my fingernails bright dripping red. I didn't think there was much point, since I would only bite them off.

"What time do you think I should ring Charlie?"

"Hmm… well you can't leave yet anyhow. You need to meet Jasper and Rosalie and Emmett and Edward." She smiled again and went back to painting my nails.

I gulped, but she didn't notice.

"Alice, I think Charlie will worry."

She sighed and lanced back up again. "Okay, I'll get you the phone."

She skipped over to the wall to grab a hands free phone from a table. When she gave it to me the number had already been dialled. "Hi, dad."

I could hear the television set in the background. "Hey, Bells. What's up?"

"I was just wondering what time you'd like me back?"

Then I heard two things at once. The television set playing through the phone, and Alice next to me whispering excitedly to Carlisle.

"Bella?" Alice turned to me with an elated look on her face. "Would you like to stay over tonight?"

"Bells!" Charlie started, "I heard that! You can stay there if you want."

"Um…" on the one hand I would like to stay with Alice, but the fact that Edward would have to come back at some point was a definite downer. "Okay…"

Before I could say anything else Alice squealing and jumping up and down, clapping her hands animatedly interrupted me. I giggled at her before turning back to the phone.

"Thanks dad."

I could hear him laughing in the background. "Your welcome. Ring me tomorrow and I'll pick you up."

I turned back to Alice who was still bouncing and I handed her the phone.

"We are going to have so much fun!" I didn't doubt her.

"I'll be right back. Wait here." And she skipped up the stairs, leaving me to sink down into the couch and wait for her. Glancing round, I noticed Esme and Carlisle whispering to each other quietly, lips moving so fast they were almost a blur. Esme looked at me quickly and I looked away. But I couldn't escape the feeling that they were talking about me.

Alice skipped down the stairs and handed me a bundle of clothes. "Here you go!" she then dragged me into her room. "We can sleep in here, or downstairs if you want. Oh, downstairs, we have to, have to! This is going to be so much fun. The others won't be back until you're asleep. So we have the entire house to ourselves, unless you count Carlisle and Esme, which I don't since they'll be in their room all the time…" I listened to her rambling feeling more and more reassured that I wouldn't have to speak to Edward, at least, I hoped I wouldn't.

"You have to let me give you a pedicure."

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

She looked up. "Something wrong?" she asked innocently.

I sighed and shook my head. "Nope." I said popping the P.

"Good." She grinned.

We stayed up until late in the night watching DVD's, and Alice gossiped about her family with even more interesting stories, all of which seemed to get even more farfetched as the night wore on. My last thought before I fell asleep was of Edward, I couldn't help wondering where he was and why he was staying out so late.

...

When I woke up I could tell that it was too early and I didn't open my eyes. I laid still, just listening to sounds, the sounds of voices. And it took me a moment to work out what they were talking about. I heard my name and I realised they were talking about me. And the voices sounded angry.

One voice I could hear belonged to Alice. Another was higher pitched. And the last was the most beautiful of all. But I couldn't make out what they were saying. They were speaking too fast, like they didn't want me to hear them. Eventually I heard a door slam and I fell asleep again.

...

I woke up a few hours later, and I could tell that it was a much more reasonable time. I sat, stretched and opened my eyes. And the first thing that caught my eye was a bronze-haired, pale figure leaning against the opposite wall. He wore a furious expression on his beautiful face, and his bright, smouldering eyes were staring right at me.

I sat still for a few seconds, my eyes fixed on him. Neither of us seemed to want to break eye contact first. He didn't talk to me, and I felt too intimidated to speak first.

I couldn't stand it any longer and I turned away, my hair making a dark curtain over one side of my face. "A-Alice?" I called hesitantly.

There was no reply.

"She's out." A beautiful, velvet voice spoke.

I turned slowly to face Edward, but I didn't look at his face.

"Oh." I turned away and the awkward silence continued.

"Is- is Carlisle home."

"No."

I bit my lip not knowing what to say.

"Where have they gone?"

Edward didn't speak for a few moments, and I glanced up to meet his gaze. He was staring right at me again with an unfathomable expression on his face. Once again I felt like there was some requirement that I wasn't meeting, that he was expecting something.

"They've gone to Seattle. Alice wanted me to tell you she's sorry that she left before you woke up."

I nodded and once again we fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"Are you hungry?" He asked a moment later.

My head snapped up to look at him and I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. My brain was having trouble making sense of what he was saying. "Huh?"

"Would you like some breakfast?"

**I think this is a pretty random place to leave it and it is really short, but I haven't updated in a while so I decided to do it now! And I would just like to say that I am insanely jealous of you people can see the Twilight movie on Friday! Whereas I have to wait until December -sniff- **

**I'm not too sure about this chapter... I wrote it today because I was ill, so go easy if you're planning on flaming me!**

**Anyhoo... Please review!**


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